Online fundraiser for bushfire-hit koalas tops Aus$1 mn

Yahoo – AFP, November 21, 2019

The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital near Sydney has raised more than
Aus$1 million on GoFundMe to help bushfire-hit koalas (AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN)

Sydney (AFP) - An online fundraiser for koalas injured in devastating bushfires topped Aus$1 million ($680,000) on Thursday, making it Australia's biggest campaign on the GoFundMe platform this year.

Deadly bushfires have ravaged vast swathes of eastern Australia, and wildlife carers estimate the blazes have killed hundreds of koalas this month in New South Wales state alone.

A crowdfunding page set up by the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital to provide automatic water drinking stations for wild koalas soared past Aus$1 million, with donations from more than 20,000 people from countries including the United States, France and England.

The wildlife charity's "Help Thirsty Koalas Devastated by Recent Fires" drive, which had an initial goal of just Aus$25,000, got more donations than any other campaign in Australia this year, GoFundMe said, and is the second-biggest since the platform launched Down Under in 2016.

It is one of 700 bushfire-related fundraisers launched on the platform in the past 10 days, which to date have raised a combined total of Aus$2 million.

An online fundraiser for koalas injured in Australia's devastating bushfires

tops Aus$1 million ($680,000)

The next-biggest has raised Aus$60,000 to support firefighters and people impacted by the blazes, which have killed six people, razed hundreds of homes and scorched about 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of land since October.

The koala hospital, some four hours north of Sydney, has rescued 31 koalas from the scorched bush in recent weeks, and said it had been "overwhelmed by the kindness, good wishes and support from the Australian and international community".

It plans to use the excess funds to deliver koala drinking stations to other parts of the state, purchase a water-carrying vehicle to replenish the stations, and to establish a koala breeding programme.

With more than 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) of land scorched in the state, the fires have also destroyed large tracts of the tree-dwelling marsupial's habitat.

A so-called "Koala Ark" would be built for recovering koalas, the hospital said, hoping they will eventually breed and be returned to the wild.

Frida, the four-legged heroine of Mexico's quake rescues

Yahoo – AFP, Yemeli ORTEGA, September 23, 2017

Frida, a rescue dog belonging to the Mexican Navy, with her handler Israel Arauz
 Salinas, takes a break while participating in the effort to look for people trapped at
the Rebsamen school in Mexico City, on September 22, 2017 (AFP Photo/
OMAR TORRES)

Mexico City (AFP) - With protective goggles fitted under her furry ears and boots on all four paws, Frida wags her tail as she scales the mountains of rubble left by this week's devastating earthquake in Mexico.

The golden labrador is using her sense of smell to try to detect any survivors left in the wreckage of buildings brought down on Tuesday by the 7.1-magnitude earthquake.

The courageous canine has become iconic in Mexico, a four-legged symbol of the solidarity behind the rescue operations whose fame has been spread on television and social media.

One man in Mexico's northeast has even had her image tattooed on his arm. And a t-shirt maker is selling a line with her face above the slogan "We can be heroes."

The dog is part of the Canine Unit of Mexico's Navy, which has been active at the sites of 39 buildings brought down in the quake.

Frida was notably deployed at a collapsed school in the capital's south where 19 children and six adults died. Officials say there is still the possibility that an adult is trapped alive in the debris.

"Frida is a specialist in detecting people alive under rubble," her handler, Petty Officer Israel Arauz told AFP.

In her career, which included being sent to Ecuador for a major earthquake last year, she has saved 12 lives, he said.

When she turns up, many Marines drop their stern military demeanor to rush to pet her and have a photo taken alongside her.

"She brings joy, tenderness and hope. Civilians salute her and applaud her in the street," said one soldier as he rubbed her belly.

The dog's personality is "very gentle, but also very strong temperamentally," Arauz said, adding that she would likely be retired next year when she turns eight.

"For me, it's an honor to handle her on these missions," he said.

Frida, a rescue dog belonging to the Mexican Navy, with her handler Israel Arauz 

Salinas, takes a break while participating in the effort to look for people trapped at

the Rebsamen school in Mexico City, on September 22, 2017 (AFP Photo/OMAR TORRES)

Dogs lost and found

The spontaneous display of solidarity in Mexico against natural disasters has been a source of surprise and inspiration internationally.

Media around the world covering this week's quake have highlighted the generosity of Mexicans who have donated food, medicine and basic supplies, as well as the volunteers who have leaped forward to help professional emergency crews to remove rubble.

That same rush to help can be seen with dog-owners.

"We have come to support the UNAM brigade to detect people and rescue them," said Jean Louis Zuniga, an amateur dog trainer who turned up at a collapsed building with several of his charges, including a labrador, a border collie, a boxer and a pitbull.

But dogs weren't only part of the rescue teams -- they were also among the quake's victims. Several died, others became trapped in the rubble after losing their owners or becoming injured.

Many have been rescued, with some being hauled out of windows on ropes.

There are also free veterinarian clinics dotted around the city to look after injured animals, and centers dispensing dog food and medicine.

"I'm so desperate, I am looking for my Candy," said Cecilia Vega, a university student ceaselessly going to each center, with a photograph in hand of her chihuahua missing since the earthquake.

Like Candy, many dogs have been found without owners. Images of them have started to circulate on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, on forums created especially.

"She's called Precious and she got lost during the earthquake. She has problems breathing and is skittish," read one posting on the Twitter feed of @MascotasSismo (translated as QuakePets), under the image of a white dog with the tongue hanging out.

"Back with his owners!" read another, showing Brook, a grey pitbull.

Nanjing expands monitoring of animal behavior for signs of earthquakes

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-07-04

An animal farm set up as a monitoring point for signs of earthquakes
in Hainan province, July 28, 2006. (Photo/CFP)

The Chinese city of Nanjing began observing animals as a way to monitor earthquakes and is planning to expand the program this year, according to Chinese news site The Paper.

Nanjing set up seven observation points last year, mostly for animal farms, and will add another seven this year, including one at Hongshan Forest Zoo, the website said.

The zoo's director Shen Zhijun said he first thought about the earthquake monitoring program in 2010 after visiting zoos in Guangzhou and Shenzhen that had already adopted the program, but he did not proceed with the idea at that time.

The monitoring program relies on zookeepers' observations of the animals in their care, and their reporting of any unusual behavior, he said.

The animals used in the programs are mainly those that are sensitive to low sound waves generated during earthquakes, such as birds, the zoo director said.

Shen said the observation will be limited to animals that are not on display, since those on display may show unusual behavior in the presence of visitors.

Another location that has become a monitoring point is the Banqiao ecological park, which is 40 minutes away from the city center and has over 200 pigs, more than 2,000 chickens and a 14.6-hectare fish pond.

Zhou Hongbing, an animal observer at the park, said he participated in a training course at the city's seismological bureau, which explained animal behavior in relation to earthquakes.

The bureau will send experts to the site where unusual animal behavior is reported, to determine whether it can be interpreted as a sign of an impending earthquake.

Jiangsu province, where Nanjing is located, already has hundreds of locations monitoring animal behavior for signs of earthquakes, The Paper said.

Malaysian quake toll hits 13 dead, 6 missing

Yahoo – AFP, Satish Cheney, 6 June 2015

A strong earthquake that jolted Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu has killed at least

 11 people and left another eight missing on Southeast Asia's highest peak, 

a government official says (AFP Photo)

Kundasang (Malaysia) (AFP) - A strong earthquake that jolted Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia has left 13 people dead and another six missing on Southeast Asia's highest peak, an official said Saturday.

The 6.0-magnitude quake struck early Friday near the picturesque mountain, a popular tourist destination, sending landslides and huge granite boulders tumbling down from its wide, 4,095-metre-high (13,435-foot) crown.

A Malaysian soldier carries victims body

 parts inside a rucksack, a day after a 

powerful earthquake Mount Kinabalu, on

June 6, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

"There are 13 (dead) bodies. Two yesterday and 11 today. We've got six people still missing. I cannot confirm with you where they are from," Mohammad Farhan Lee Abdullah, police chief of the town of Ranau near the mountain, told AFP.

Malaysian media reports have said the dead included members of a Singapore primary school group on an excursion to the mountain, including a 12-year-old girl who was killed, as well as a local Malaysian climbing guide.

"It's very sad. The Singapore children were so happy when they arrived here, but now..." Masidi Manjun, tourism minister for the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, told reporters.

Rescuers earlier on Saturday finished escorting down to safety 137 hikers who were stuck on the mountain for up to 18 hours after the quake damaged a key trail and they faced the threat of continuing rockfalls.

Crews and officials engaged in further search and rescue efforts were kept on edge, however, by aftershocks including a Saturday afternoon temblor that Malaysian officials rated at 4.5-magnitude.

It sent staff and journalists scurrying out of the park's headquarters.

Reports said most people on the mountain when the quake hit were Malaysian but that they also included hikers from Singapore, the United States, the Philippines, Britain, Thailand, Turkey, China and Japan.

Pieces of paper showing various Malaysian rescue teams mark their current

 positions on a summit trail information board, heading towards Mount Kinabalu 

(AFP Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

'Rocks raining down fast'

Authorities have not provided a breakdown or given details on the number of injured.

Major earthquakes are rare in Malaysia and the tremor was one of the strongest in decades, jolting a wide area of Sabah and sending people fleeing outdoors.

But there have been no reports of major damage, nor any casualties outside of those on the mountain.

Masidi said all climbing would be suspended at Mount Kinabalu for at least three weeks to allow for repairs to damaged trails, accommodation and other facilities.

Malaysia's Bernama news agency quoted a climber describing his terror as the quake unleashed a shower of large stones from the rocky peak.

"Rocks were raining down fast, like rock blasting," Lee Yoke Fah, a 60-year-old Malaysian who suffered minor injuries, was quoted as saying.

"I am not going to climb again, I am scared."

Mount Kinabalu is among the top tourist attractions in a state famed for its rainforests, wild rivers and coral reefs.

A member of a Malaysian rescue team talks with his mobile phone at the 

Timpohon gate checkpoint as they wait for victims to be evacuated a day after

 an earthquake in Kundasang, a town in the district of Ranau on June 6, 2015

(AFP Photo/Mohad Rasfan)

Around 20,000 complete the relatively easy climb each year, usually taking two days.

The force of the tremor was so strong that it toppled one of the two "Donkey's Ears", towering twin rock outcroppings that form a distinctive part of the peak's profile.

Mount Kinabalu is sacred to the local Kadazan Dusun tribe, who consider it a resting place for departed spirits.

Malaysian social media users and some officials have suggested the quake was a sign the spirits were angry after a group of 10 apparently Western men and women tourists last weekend snapped nude photos at the summit and posted them on the Internet.

"This will certainly bring misfortune... we can't play with the spirit of the sacred mountain," deputy state chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan told reporters Saturday.

He called for the tourists to be brought to justice.

Twelve Killed in Sukabumi Landslide

Jakarta Globe, AFP, Mar 29, 2015

Rescuers carry a dead body after a landslide hit Jemblung village, in Central
Java's Banjarnegara district, on Dec. 13, 2014. (EPA Photo/Gugus Mandiri)

Jakarta. Twelve people were killed and 11 houses buried after a landslide triggered by heavy rain in Indonesia’s main island of Java, an official said on Sunday.

The landslide hit Tegal Panjang village in Sukabumi district in west Java late on Saturday after a particularly heavy downpour, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

“We found all 12 bodies,” he said in an update, revising the earlier death toll of 10 and two missing.

He said heavy rain caused a cliff to collapse and hit the village, burying 11 houses.

Landslides triggered by heavy rains and floods are common in tropical Indonesia during the rainy season.

The BNPB estimates around half the country’s 250 million population lives in areas prone to landslides.

The vast Indonesian archipelago is one of the most natural disaster-prone nations on Earth, and is also frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Agence France-Presse

Two Earthquakes Hit North Nias; No Tsunami Alert

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, Jan 27, 2015

A screenshot of the United States Geological Survey website showing the
location of Tuesday morning's earthquakes in Nias Island. (JG Screenshot)

Jakarta. Two earthquakes rattled the island of Nias off the North Sumatra coast on Tuesday morning, but did not trigger a tsunami warning. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to property.

The first quake, of magnitude 5.7, struck at 7:53 a.m. on the northeastern tip of the island, sending residents fleeing from their homes.

“The earthquake lasted for about five to seven seconds,” said Faozaro, head of the North Nias Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), as quoted by Tempo.co. “We can ensure that the earthquake won’t cause a tsunami.”

A second quake, of magnitude 4.9, hit just nine minutes later, about four kilometers south of the first one.

The BPBD has deployed officers to North Nias’s 11 subdistricts to survey any damage. “As of now, there have been no reports of injuries or damage to houses,” Faozaro said.

Related Article:

As world honours the dead, Indonesia begins tsunami memorials

Death toll continues to rise in Indonesian landslide

Rescuers have pulled more bodies from debris left after a mudslide hit a village in central Indonesia. Dozens are still missing and hundreds have been displaced by the disaster.

Deutsche Welle, 14 Dec 2014

Rescue workers in Indonesia on Sunday continued their search for more than 70 people left missing after a mudslide two days previously buried 105 houses in the village of Jemblung in central Java.

"The rescue team has found 32 bodies ... and is still searching for 76 people buried in the landslide," National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a text message.

Sutopo said 25 of the victims had been identified, adding that more than 2,000 people were taking part in the search. Some 600 people had been forced from their homes and were being accommodated in temporary shelters at several locations, he said.

President's visit

The ground around the disaster site is reportedly still unstable, forcing rescuers to be careful while digging for fear of causing more mudslides. Sutopo said that rescue teams had also been hampered by the fact that many roads and bridges were destroyed.

President Joko Widodo (seen above in white) visited the area on Sunday, and promised to relocate the people made homeless by the disaster. He also warned Indonesians to be "vigilant," saying that there were many other areas in the country where landslides were a likely event.

Friday's mudslide in the Barnjarnegara district, some 460 kilometers (285 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta, was triggered by three days of torrential rains.

Landslides caused by heavy rains and floods are common in Indonesia during the rainy season, which runs from November to March. The national disaster estimates that about half of the countriy's 250 million population lives in areas that are prone to landslides.

tj/es (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)

Govt to ‘Help’ Lapindo With Mudflow Compensation, Offers to Buy Assets

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, Dec 08, 2014

Children play on swings on the embankment of the Lapindo mudflow. Victims
 are still waiting for full compensation from the company accused of triggering
the disaster. (JG Photo/Arief Priyono)

Jakarta. Victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, are one step closer to being compensated for losses — eight years after dozens of villages and hundreds of hectares of farmland were swamped.

The government announced on Monday that it would buy assets from the company accused of triggering the disaster, Lapindo Brantas, which could then use the proceeds to pay out Rp 781 billion ($62 million) due to victims this year.

Minister of Public Works Basuki Hadimuljono said the government would buy about 20 percent of the company’s assets, which was mostly land, in affected areas.

The announcement comes just days after President Joko Widodo — through cabinet secretary Andi Widjajanto — ordered Lapindo Brantas to wrap up payments to victims of the mud volcano. On top of the Rp 781 billion owed to residents, the company, which is affiliated with the family of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, must pay Rp 500 billion to affected businesses in 2015.

“They still have around Rp 1.4 trillion to pay,” Andi said. “We’re waiting for it.”

The government’s decision to buy assets from Lapindo Brantas is bound to raise questions about why money from the state budget was essentially being used to compensate a mistake made by the company.

The government is already required to pay Rp 300 billion compensation to victims whose land is located outside the map of affected areas. A 2012 judicial review which sought to have the company cover all compensation costs in areas affected by the mudflow was rejected by the Constitutional Court.

Andi said buying the company’s assets was part of the government’s effort to “help” Lapindo Brantas fulfill its responsibilities.

Lapindo Brantas was conducting gas exploration in the Sidoarjo area in 2006 when one of its natural gas wells blew out, causing a mud flow which destroyed hundreds of homes, swamped 720 hectares of land and displaced thousands of people.

Scientists blame drilling activities by the company for triggering the eruption, but the government at the time decreed it a natural disaster.

Related Articles:

Taxpayers Still Footing the Bill For Sidoarjo Mud

Residents hope govt will fulfil Lapindo compensation promise

Boediono Wants Lapindo Disaster Area for 'Nature Recreation'

Lapindo Told to Shell Out For Mudflow Before Drilling Again

Lapindo Disaster Caused By Human Error: Study

Indonesia's mud volcano flows on

Satellite picture received from Ikonos Satellite Image on May 29, 2008 shows

the mud volcano and its surrounding area in Sidoarjo, East Java. (AFP/Ikonos

Satellite Image)

More pictures ....

Indonesia Tsunami Warning Lifted After 7.1 Earthquake

Jakarta Globe, Nov 15, 2014

A screenshot of the USGS website showing the series of earthquakes in
eastern Indonesia on Saturday. (JG Photo)

Jakarta. Indonesian authorities have lifted a tsunami warning after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake hit the east of the country on Saturday morning.

The quake struck at 9:31 a.m. some 156 kilometers northwest of the island of Ternate in the Malukus. Several aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 4.3 to 5.8 were registered as of 1:13 p.m., according to the United States Geological Survey.

The initial quake prompted a tsunami warning from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), but the waves generated were not as high as feared in places such as Jailolo and Tobelo, in the Maluku chain, and in Manado, North Sulawesi.

The BMKG withdrew its tsunami warning at 13:45 p.m. in the affected area, while the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said it would continue to monitor the seismic activity in the region.

“Any time there’s a tsunami warning, the people must evacuate to higher ground,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the BNPB, adding that in that particular region, there was only a 30-minute window for an evacuation, given the speed at which the tsunami waves moved.

The region, where the Eurasian and Filipino tectonic plates meet, has a history of earthquakes capable of generating tsunamis. The last recorded tsunami was in 1932, when a quake of magnitude 8.3 struck. Before that, a 7.4 quake in 1858 also generated a tsunami.

Rains hamper Sri Lanka mudslide tragedy search effort

Yahoo – AFP, Ishara Kodikara, 30 Oct 2014

A road damaged after a landslide caused by heavy monsoon rains in Koslanda

village in central Sri Lanka on October 30, 2014 (AFP Photo/Ishara S. Kodikara)

Koslanda (Sri Lanka) (AFP) - Heavy rains disrupted a massive search Thursday for scores of people feared buried in a landslide on a Sri Lankan tea estate, further dimming prospects of finding anyone alive.

An estimated 100 people are still listed as missing, according to the national Disaster Management Centre (DMC), a day after dozens of tin-roofed homes were buried under tonnes of mud, with only a handful of bodies recovered so far.

Hundreds of troops suspended their work with rains threatening more mudslides at the plantation in central Sri Lanka.

A government-run relief camp at Poonagalla

 on October 30, 2014 after a deadly landslide

 on a Sri Lankan tea estate that buried

scores of tin-roofed homes under tonnes

of mud (AFP Photo/Ishara S. Kodikara)

"We are suspending the search operation because it is not safe to work in this rain," the region's top military officer, Major General Mano Perera, told reporters.

"We hope to start work tomorrow morning if the weather improves."

Perera said they failed to find any survivors or bodies from the disaster site on Thursday. He did not hold out much hope of finding survivors as the site was covered in tonnes of mud.

"There were no concrete structures which could have acted as air traps for victims to survive," he added.

Shop keeper Vevaratnam Marathamuttu said he ran when tonnes of earth came crashing down the hill on Wednesday morning, fearing there had been an explosion.

"I thought it was some sort of a bomb blast and fled from my shop," Marathamuttu said. "I saved my life because I ran away."

Truck driver Sinniah Yogarajan, 48, said there was "no point in my living" after five members of his family along with his friends were buried in the disaster.

"The entire neighbourhood has vanished. Now there is a river of mud where our houses once stood," Yogarajan told AFP at a nearby school where survivors were sheltering.

"The soldiers are trying their best but every time they scoop out some of the mud the hole then just gets filled up again with more mud."

There had been fears of an even higher toll when officials initially said that up to 300 people were unaccounted for.

But the government's disaster management minister said most of those who were classified as missing were later found at work, with the DMC saying at least 227 people survived because they were out of their homes when the tragedy struck.

Some 75 children were already at their school nearby when their homes were buried, officials said, adding that they were checking on reports that at least two children had lost both parents.

Fears of more landslides

President Mahinda Rajapakse visited the disaster area in Koslanda on Thursday, speaking with survivors sheltering at two schools. He later inspected the Meeriyabedda tea plantation, which bore the full brunt of the mudslide.

During the day, soldiers were seen clearing debris from the mud, as curious onlookers as well as survivors whose relatives were missing gathered at the site despite appeals to stay away.

Sri Lankan residents watch search and rescue operations at the site of a landslide

 caused by heavy monsoon rains in Koslanda village in central Sri Lanka on

October 30, 2014 (AFP Photo/Ishara S. Kodikara)

Labourer Arumugam Thyagarajah, 28, said his six-year-old daughter was washed away in the mudslide as she walked with her older brother to school.

At least 1,200 people from nearby tea plantations have also been evacuated from their homes amid fears that ongoing rains could lead to more mudslides, officials said adding that more people were expected at relief centres.

Sri Lanka's picturesque hill region is famed for producing Ceylon tea, and has become a major tourist attraction with visitors able to stay on the plantations.

The number of homes destroyed was revised down to 63 on Thursday from 150 given earlier by the DMC.

"We had difficulty communicating with our officers and sometimes rumours were reported to us as facts," the Colombo-based DMC spokesman Sarath Kumara told AFP.

An office where village records were maintained was also destroyed in the disaster, causing problems for the authorities in compiling reliable casualty figures.

Sri Lanka, a tropical island at the foot of India, is prone to weather-related disasters -- especially during the monsoon season when the rains are often welcomed by farmers.

If the death toll does reach three figures, the disaster would be the country's worst since the December 2004 tsunami when 31,000 people died.

Related Article:

There were warning signs ahead of Sri Lanka mudslide: survivors

Stranded trekkers in storm-hit Nepal region 'safe'

Yahoo – AFP, October 18, 2014

Stranded trekkers in storm-hit region safe: Nepal official

Kathmandu (AFP) - All trekkers left stranded by a major snowstorm in Nepal's Himalayas are safe, officials said Saturday, with the focus now shifting to the recovery of bodies four days after the disaster killed at least 32 people.

Nepalese army choppers circled the upper reaches of the popular Annapurna Circuit trekking region to locate bodies, while officials flew in a team of experts from Kathmandu to assist with retrieval.

Tuesday's unseasonal storm, which hit at the height of the trekking season triggering avalanches, caught hikers unaware on their way up to an exposed high mountain pass, and killed at least 17 tourists.

"We understand that all remaining trekkers in the region are safe," said Binay Acharya of the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN), an industry body organising rescue efforts.

"We have not received any further calls for rescue or for information about stranded people," Acharya told AFP.

Emergency workers have so far rescued 385 people from the affected area, according to police.

"Since Wednesday, we have rescued 385 people, including 180 foreigners," said police official Harikrishna KC.

Rescuers Friday recovered the body of a Nepalese porter, taking the death toll to 32, including 24 hikers, guides and porters on the trekking circuit, three yak herders as well as five climbers on a mountain in the area.

Thousands of people head to the Annapurna Circuit every October, when weather conditions are usually clear.

However, the region has seen unusually heavy snowfall this week sparked by Cyclone Hudhud, which slammed into India's east coast Sunday.

The disaster prompted Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala to announce plans to set up a weather warning system across the mountainous country, which relies heavily on tourism revenues from climbing and trekking.

The Annapurna Circuit is particularly popular among tourists, and has come to be known as the "apple pie" trek for the food served at the small lodges, known as teahouses, that line the route.

The snowstorm is one of Nepal's worst trekking disasters since 1995 when a huge avalanche struck the camp of a Japanese trekking group in the Mount Everest region, killing 42 people including 13 Japanese.

The Himalayan nation has suffered multiple avalanches this year, with 16 guides killed in April in the deadliest accident to hit Mount Everest, forcing an unprecedented shutdown of the world's highest peak.

Sudden volcanic eruption leaves dozens stranded in Japan

A volcano in central Japan has erupted, leaving over 250 people stranded and up to 32 people seriously injured. The eruption of the 3,067-meter-high Mount Ontake took climbers by surprise.

Deutsche Welle, 27 Sep 2014

Mount Ontake took mountain climbers by surprise on Saturday when it erupted and covered the area in up to 20 centimeters of ash, according to media reports.

Rescue workers were inhibited by the ash and tried to reach the stranded lodgers on foot because conditions were too dangerous for helicopters.

Over 200 people managed to reach the foot of the mountain, Reuters news agency reported, but around 40 were still trapped at the summit and would spend the night in shelters.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that 32 people had been seriously injured.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the military to rescue the trapped hikers. Authorities have restricted entry to hiking paths.

Abe orders rescue attempts

"We have confirmed that there have been injuries," Abe told reporters. "I ordered (government officials) to do their best to secure the safety of mountain climbers."

The Japan Meterological Agency recorded volcanic plum on the southern slope of the 3,067-meter mountain, stretching more than three kilometers and rising up to one kilometer high.

The agency forecast further eruptions and warned that debris could settle within a four-kilometer radius.

Saturday hike turns dark

Eyewitnesses told media there had been a sudden, loud thunder-like explosion and that the sky turned dark, leaving no visibility on what had been a clear Saturday noon.

Ash, rocks and steam continued to spew from the volcano nine hours later.

The last major eruption of Mount Ontake, which lies between the Nagano and Gifu prefectures in central Japan, occurred in 1979.

sb/ipj (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Related Article:

Japan Volcano Dead Found Crushed Between Boulders: Report

Mount Lokon Erupts in North Sulawesi

Jakarta Globe, SP/Rully Satriadi, Sep 13, 2014

Photo of erupting Mount Lokon via BeritaSatu.

Jakarta. Mount Lokon erupted on Saturday early morning in North Sulawesi, sending a column of  ash 600 meters into the air and prompting local authorities to set up an exclusion zone around the volcano.

“The eruption must be monitored closely because… the ash fell on the eastern part of the mountain, Mandolang, Tombariri and East Tombariri district in Minahasa, and Manado has also been affected,” local resident Feri Rismawan said on Saturday.

In Malalayang, a subdistrict of the provincial capital of Manado, people wore facemasks to protect themselves from the respiratory effects of the ash.

Minahasa district head, Jantje Sajow, said the government had advised people not to venture outside without a mask. The local disaster management agency followed this up by distributing masks free of charge, while the local government set up a 2.5-kilometer radius around the crater which local people were not allowed to cross.

The 1,580-meter Mount Lokon is one of Indonesia’s more active volcanos. It erupted in 1991, killing a Swiss tourist.

Dramatic Papua New Guinea volcano quietens

Yahoo – AFP, 30 Aug 2014

Mount Tavurvur erupting in eastern Papua New Guinea, Aug 29 2014.

(AFP Photo: Oliver Bluett)

A volcano which has erupted in Papua New Guinea was Saturday spewing fragments from its crater and rumbling loudly, but its activity appeared to be subsiding, a seismologist said.

Mount Tavurvur, which destroyed the town of Rabaul when it erupted simultaneously with nearby Mount Vulcan in 1994, came to life again early Friday, with rocks and ash erupting from its centre.

Security officials man a check-point to alert 

residents following the eruption of Mount 

Tavurvur in eastern Papua New Guinea on 

August 30, 2014 (AFP Photo/Ness Kerton)

The eruptions on the remote island of New Britain in eastern PNG thrust plumes of ash into the air, prompting local evacuations and international flights to modify their routes.

"At the moment we are getting only discrete explosions," Jonathan Kuduon, a senior seismologist at the Rabaul Volcanological Observatory, told AFP.

"The activity has subsided," he said, adding that the fragments were reaching less than 200 metres (600 feet) above the crater.

"These small explosions are usually accompanied by noise."

So far there have been no reports of injuries or damage, but the volcano continued to boom and spew lava overnight and parts of Rabaul are blanketed in ash and pumice stone.

Kuduon said Mount Tavurvur remained a concern, saying officials were worried about the amount of ash in parts of Rabaul, but the kind of eruption -- Strombolian (low-level) -- meant it could subside quickly.

"I think from Tavurvur you can expect small eruptions to go on yet. You can still expect eruptions from that volcano but not from Vulcan," he said.

"Looking at past eruptions, I think the eruptions are getting less and less. Which simply means that the volcano is dying out."

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in the northern Australian city of Darwin said it was keeping a close eye on the situation after Friday's eruption which saw ash reach 60,000 feet (18,000 metres) which is flight level.

"The last two big eruptions at Rabaul, you've had the Tavurvur eruptions first and then one in a fairly close time period you've had Vulcan erupt," official Cyndee Seals told AFP.

But Kuduon said he was not overly concerned about Mount Vulcan erupting.

Youths wearing masks plays among ash

 spewed after the eruption of Mount 

Tavurvur in eastern Papua New Guinea on

August 30, 2014 (AFP Photo/Ness Kerton)

This crater rumbled to life with Tavurvur in 1994, with the eruptions destroying much of Rabaul, with falling ash causing buildings to collapse. While loss of life was minimal, looters ransacked the evacuated town.

"In 1994 you had eruptions from Vulcan that went (on) for nearly two weeks and then the volcano just shut of," Kuduon said.

The seismologist said the people of Rabaul were now waiting for the eruptions from the 688-metre (2,270-foot) Tavurvur crater to stop completely.

"We need to go back to our normal life. So long as we have eruptions going it will affect our normal life. We only wish that the volcano can go back to sleep now," he said.

PNG sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where high volcanic and seismic activity is the norm.

The Post-Courier reported that Rabaul port was temporarily closed Friday as a precautionary measure.